The popularity of family-oriented theme parks and recreational facilities has increased dramatically in the last decade. In particular, water parks have proliferated as adults and children, alike, seek the thrill and entertainment of water parks as a healthy and enjoyable way to cool off in the hot summer months.
Most theme parks consist primarily of ride attractions. Some of the more popular among these are slides in which participants slide down a trough or tunnel. In waterpark, the rider may slide upon water on the slide, and splash down into a pool of water. As demand for such attractions has increased, parks have continued to evolve ever larger and more complex slides to thrill and entertain growing numbers of water play participants.
Many slide rides attract customers by offering high speed travel through the slide. To achieve such high speeds, slides may include a trapdoor system that quickly drops a rider from a rest position to a near vertical descent into the slide ride. Such trapdoor systems are traditionally actuated by a series of springs or pistons that forcefully and quickly move the trapdoor between a closed position and an open position. Such devices require large amounts of energy to operate. In addition, such devices may be dangerous if a rider becomes stuck by the trapdoor and pinned by the force of a spring or piston.